Elevate Student Ministries

Objective - Students will recognize the power of using Scripture to confront temptations and will be compelled to systematically memorize Bible verses to help them defeat sin. Key Scripture - Psalm 119:11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Summary - This lesson was the third lesson of a four-part spiritual boot camp series called Basic Training: Preparation for Spiritual Life. The four lessons in this series focused on various essentials that every follower of Jesus needs in order to be a great soldier in God’s army. This week’s lesson focused on the need for students to hide God’s Word in their hearts (i.e., memorize Scripture). By looking at the weapons of First Century Roman soldiers, we learned the importance of having both a sword and shield. The Bible compares itself with a sword and encourages us to have the shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16-17). The central idea of the lesson was to learn how to wield the Sword of the Spirit (God’s Word) ...

  Hey Parents,  I hope all of you students have made their way back into the rhythm of the school year well! Thank you so much for allowing your student to participate in our events designed to start this year off right. Whether it was Kick Ball, Year in Focus Meeting, our Pool Party, Soft Launch or Kick Off we have had a blast jumping into the new year with your students.  I just wanted to send a quick message letting you know about a few things on the horizon as we move into our first "normal week" of the new ESM school year. That is right, this week we are finally back to our normal 6-8 PM gatherings on Wednesdays and we couldn't be more excited!  This year, we have tried to get the word out about our Creative Discipleship Program. If you missed the memos or meetings do check out this blog to learn more about the program! If your student wants to participate I would highly encourage you to take the challenge with them! You can simply download ...

Objective - Students will learn the importance of using the Word of God appropriately and will be challenged to have a personal, daily quiet time. Key Scripture - Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Summary - This lesson was the second of a four-part spiritual bootcamp series called Basic Training: Preparation for Spiritual Life. In this lesson, we addressed the need to develop a personal time with God reading His Word and talking to Him in prayer. Using examples from the military and the sport of fencing, we challenged the students to wield the Word (i.e., the Sword of the Spirit; the Word of God) wisely. Like both a soldier and a competitive sword fighter each prepare for battle by having consistent, daily training, each follower of Jesus must learn how to apply the Word of God in their ...

Objective - Students will be introduced to Jesus Christ, invited to trust Him as Savior, and encouraged to share their decision to trust Christ with others. Key Scripture - Romans 5:10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Summary - This lesson is the first of a four-part spiritual bootcamp series called Basic Training: Preparation for Spiritual Life. The four lessons in this series discuss four different essentials that every follower of Jesus needs in order to be a great soldier in God’s army. This lesson specifically focused on how to enlist in God’s army. In other words, how does someone become a follower of Jesus? What must one do to be saved? In this lesson, we showed students that there are two sides in the spiritual realm: Satan’s (evil) and God’s (good). There is a war going on between them. When we are born, we all have a sin nature, which by default, puts us ...

 Hey Parents,  Pastor Josiah here. First, thank you so much to all the parents who made it out to our Year-in-Focus Meeting yesterday! I think it was a valuable time for those in attendance but I know for various reasons some of you had to miss it. I thought I would make a post here to serve as a summation of the information provided in that meeting.  We spent a good portion of the meeting explaining how students and parents can be engaged in the Creative Discipleship Program this year. Please see this blog post for more details.  We also took advantage of the time to let you know about some of the upcoming events on the remainder of this calendar year's Student Ministry Calendar.  *Please note while we have done everything we can to make sure we announce accurate information these things are subject to minor changes at times due to unforeseen obstacles. Please note we do not plan to update this blog post, so for up-to-date information as the events approach pl...

  Hey Parents! Thanks to our partnership with Word of Life we are excited to announce that students will again be invited to participate in our Creative Discipleship Challenge (CDC) this year.  Those who complete the CDC are awarded the following: A Free Word of Life Camping Experience A Free Tickey to a night of Reverb with WOL the following year  Scholarship to Various Christian Universities (for details click here ) We love this challenge because it provides a great structure to encourage students in the spiritual disciplines God encourages all of his children to grow in. 1 Timothy 4:7 says, "Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” We want to champion students getting serious about that journey.  The goal is to focus students to develop habits of spiritual discipline in two key areas, growing their faith and sharing their faith. Each of these two areas has four spiritual disciplines connected to it: Grow their faith Youth Group Attendance Quiet Time Scr...